Beyond the Borders
By
Spice of Life
Princess Celestia listened to Twilight as she recounted her latest adventure and what it taught her about friendship. As Celestia listened she looked over Twilight and her assembled friends. Spike was stealing glances at Rarity as she looked in admiration at Celestia. Based on what she had heard from Twilight, Rarity was most likely dreaming of creating some kind of lavish dress for her. Looking past Twilight and Spike she noticed Fluttershy doing her best to hide behind Rainbow Dash without looking like she was trying to hide, while Dash looked up at the sky, probably eager to return to it. Celestia couldn't help but giggle to herself as she saw Pinkie Pie who, was doing her best to stand respectfully still. She would shake and bounce every now and then while Apple Jack gave her annoyed glances. Celestia enjoyed the time she got to spend with Twilight and her friends. Being royalty had its perks but left a pony with very little time for any kind of a deep friendship, Twilight was probably the closest thing she had to a best friend in a very long time. However Celestia did wish they would be less formal around her.
Celestia's normally happy face suddenly fell into a frown for a split second before it returned. She hoped that none of the ponies surrounding her had seen her momentary lapse. She had felt something coming, fortunately it seemed to be moving slowly so she was happy to take the time to finish listening to Twilight's report. Once Twilight finished she said in her softest, happiest voice "Thank you and your friends for your wonderful report on the magic of friendship, I'm glad to see you all learning so much".
"Thank you princess" Twilight replied as Celestia stepped onto her chariot and was lifted into the sky by her pegasus guards. Celestia took one last smiling look back at the assembled group as her chariot carried her to Canterlot. Once she was sure Twilight would not be able to see her any longer she said "Take me to the gate"
Her guards looked at each other before turning the chariot from the white towers of Canterlot to the wild Everfree Forest. The chariot swiftly flew over the hills and plains surrounding the Everfree forest before the tree line rushed by beneath them. Princess Celestia looked down as the tree line rushed by beneath them. She was about to look away from the quickly passing forest when she spotted a colorful shape quickly moving through the trees. It appeared to be a blue pony with a long red mane and it was running from something. She followed its trail back and was surprised to see a large hydra chasing the fleeing pony.
"I wonder how I missed that" she said, lightly chuckling as her horn glowed with magic.
The hydra was angry, this... thing had invaded its territory and taken something from it. The hydra didn't know what was taken and it didn't care, it was the hydra's and no one would take anything from it. All four of the hydra's heads focused on the fleeing blue creature as it darted around trees and bushes which the hydra just crashed though. Two of its heads reared up to strike at the blue thing before one of its heads noticed a flash to the side of it followed quickly by a loud BOOM. The other three heads turned to where the sound had come from just long enough for it to trip over a fallen log. All four of the heads searched for the source of the light and sound but could see nothing, its previous objective forgotten as it kept searching before finally giving up and turning around to return to its den.
The pony looked around when she stopped hearing the sounds of pursuit. She did a quick scan of her surroundings to make sure the hydra had really given up and seeing herself alone she checked her saddle bag to make sure the herbs she had gathered were still there before she closed it and continued on her way.
Celestia smiled. She was glad she could help but wished she could do more than just distract the monster. Long ago she and her sister had tried to make a perfectly peaceful city place for ponies where all their needs were met. It had not ended well. Without anything to struggle against, the ponies had either become very violent with each other or just given up on living. Fortunately she and Luna had been keeping a close eye on the city and were able to stop it before things got too bad but it still pained her to think of what happened to the ones before they had become aware of the problem. At least it had taught her to be much more subtle in making sure her ponies were fed and sheltered. It took almost 300 years to get to the point where her ponies had no idea how much she did to keep them fed and housed. She hung her head and tried to shake off the memory as the chariot raced above the forest canopy.
In the distance Celestia could finally see the gate to Tartarus. She looked at her guards and wondered if she should call for more, only four pegasus might not be enough. She hated to think of her loyal guards like this, but since they were not strong enough to help defeat the creatures, they ended up as distractions. She decided that having a few more guards would be a good thing. It would also be easier to get them to retreat and be healed if they got injured. Celestia was about to send a message to Canterlot before she let out a laugh.
"Oh how could I be such a foalish? I'm not alone anymore, I have Luna with me now. Both of us might be a bit much considering this one doesn't feel that strong but she should learn how to combat these creatures, and they have surprised me before." Her guards were a bit surprised to hear their princess talking to herself like that but the idea of having both princesses against whatever horror they would find in this place gave them a burst of confidence. The gate to Tartarus grew bigger as the chariot sped towards it. Celestia's horn glowed with magic as she sent her message to her sister.
"Dear sister, please meet me at the gate to Tartarus. I need your help." Celestia finished the message and her horn flashed as the spell ended, just in time to see the gate to Tartarus looming before her as her chariot touched down a short distance away. Celestia looked at her guards as they shifted uncomfortably before the giant columns of the portal. She knew that the lava and fire they could see though the portal didn't help. She gave the front two guards a reassuring pat on their heads as they unhooked themselves from the chariot. She looked up just in time to see Luna's chariot approach and touch down a short distance from hers.
Luna stepped off her chariot as Celestia approached her with a look of disdain as she eyed her sister's grinning pegasus guards and the dark bat winged chariot they pulled.
"I believe I have found one cause of your image problem dear sister" Celestia said as she trotted up to her sister. "I'm not sure if such a vehicle gives the friendliest first impression" Luna rolled her eyes as her sister stopped just in front of her.
"I know you did not call me just to insult my chariot" Luna said as she pawed at the ground with her hoof "can you please just tell me what this is about? I would like to return to sleep before I need to raise the moon"
"I will I will but first" Celestia leaned forward and hugged her sister "it's good to see you again".
Luna smiled and sighed as she returned the hug. "It is good to see you again also. We do not get to spend nearly enough time together do we?"
"I know, it's so good to have you back" Celestia broke the embrace and looked over at Luna's strange grinning guards. "I don't believe I have met your... guards? Before". She said while walking over to them. They shuffled nervously as the Princess eyed them. They still had the strange grins as they tried to retreat behind their princess to escape Celestia's gaze. "Where did they come from? I do not believe I have seen black armor like this before, and why do they have bat wings?"
Luna walked over to her guards and gave one of them a pat on the head with her hoof. He seemed to calm down a little but there was still fear in his eyes. Luna sighed "I, myself am unsure where they came from. I believe perhaps Nightmare Moon created them but I do not know how she would. They have no magic in them but they do seem to be very loyal." Her guards looked appreciatively at their princess while Celestia stared at the strange guards for a long moment.
"Do they talk?"
"I have not heard a peep from either one".
"Peculiar". Turning back to her sister "But they are loyal and you trust them?"
"...Yes, I believe so"
"Then that is good enough, they shall accompany us"
"We wou... I mean, I would still like to know what this is about sister."
Celestia turned to the gate "I shall tell you on the way".
Luna looked over the large columns of the gate to Tartarus. They were chipped and cracked with age but the marble still shone in the sunlight. However, the view between the pillars did not fill her with confidence. Fire erupted from the ground, lakes of magma flowed, clouds of black smoke filled the sky. This was not a place she was eager to visit. Celestia stopped in front of the gate and looked around. Her guards stood behind her while Luna and her guards moved up behind them.
Luna could sense her sister was confused and was about to ask what was wrong when Celestia said "Oh here comes the guardian". She took a step back and her guards followed her example. Luna noticed what looked like three pairs of glowing eyes staring at their little group from the forest. A massive three headed-beast lunged out of the woods and landed right where Celestia had been standing, its three heads locked onto the groups of ponies as it growled and crouched to the ground, ready to leap. Luna's guards quickly moved in front of her to protect her from the creature as she readied her magic.
"SIT!" Celestia commanded, her magic amplifying her voice so much that it echoed in Luna's ears. The beast quickly obeyed and its faces softened. "That's a good Cerberus." Celestia said as she walked up to the creature. Its red eyes still locked onto the groups of ponies but the anger had vanished. Luna cautiously pushed past her guards and walked over to her sister.
"What.... is that?" She asked, still mesmerized by the hulking beast, almost twice her height.
Celestia smiled at her "That is my guard dog, Cerberus"
"Where did you get such a creature?" Luna asked as she carefully walked around the beast, one of its heads tracking her movement, she noticed that one head kept fixed on her guards, it was the only head that still looked angry.
"He was a gift from the dragons, part of treaty I have with them. They patrol the edges of Equestria and I go into the depths of the outlands to fight the creatures".
"You mentioned these creatures before. When are you going to tell us... me about them? If I am to aid you in combating them, should not I know more about them?"
"It's rather hard to describe them, they can take so many different shapes and combating each one is different aside from a few similarities. I shall try to describe them to you as we go" Celestia finished as she stepped though the portal followed closely by her four guards.
Luna watched them vanish as they stepped though the gate which rippled like a stream from. She looked at her grinning guards, they shuffled nervously and looked to her to guide them. She looked back at the hulking beast, four pairs of beady red eyes impassively watched her while the third head kept fixed on her guards.
"I suppose we must follow my sister" Luna said while she walked forward to the gate. She raised her hoof and reached it forward. She watched the ripples move around the image of fire and brimstone. She didn't feel any heat from it. She stepped forward though the gate.
Beyond the Borders part 2
Luna stepped through the gate, she didn't feel the heat she had expected, when she opened her eyes she didn't see the fire or molten rock she expected either. Instead she saw a strange grey sky and a rocky expanse that went on as far as her eye could see with numerous pillars of rock jutting out of the landscape. She was standing on a cliff edge, it didn't look that high up but it was tall enough so she could see over the tops of most of the rock spires, Celestia and her guards were standing at the edge.
"The fire and lava are just a trick to keep ponies out" Explained Celestia "If that doesn't do it then usually Cerberus gets them to run away" Celestia watched while Luna took in the scene and her grinning guards came running out of the portal, skidding to stop just before the cliff edge.
"Is this where we will fight the... creatures?" Luna asked, shifting nervously, half expecting to be ambushed by another guard dog.
"No... No, I don't think so, they have made it here before but this one is still in the Outlands. I call this place the Midlands, it is.... how to explain it? Forgive me, it has been so long since I explained it to anypony. I believe it may be easier to tell you of the Outlands before the Midlands." Celestia raised her head high and her horn glowed with magic until she released it and a golden yellow wave of magic spread throughout the land revealing a single glowing trail behind it.
"That is the direction we must travel." Celestia spread her wings and raised herself into the air as her pegasus guards followed. Luna looked at her guards and they all followed Celestia into the sky, letting the golden trail lead them.
Luna pulled up next to her sister as the assembled guards fell into formation behind the princesses. "So what is this Outlands we are going to?" Luna asked, hoping to finally get a real answer from her sister.
"Well, the Outlands first came into existence not long after I... banished you, I'm so sorry"
"It is alright, I am truly sorry that I left you no other choice" Luna weakly smiled at her sister who smiled back.
Celestia gave her sister a quick nuzzle before moving away again so they would not collide as they flew.
"Banishing you resulted in our connections to the Elements of Harmony being severed. I believe it was about 50 years after that when the Outlands first came to my attention. It was a strange place, originally about the size of Ponyville but it quickly grew. By this point it takes up about half the world."
Luna stared at her "H..how?"
"I am not sure but it has to do with the way the Elements of Harmony had their connection severed. Because of that, the Outlands formed, it is a place of life without Harmony to guide it."
Luna stared at her sister as pillars or rock quickly passed by beneath them. "What does that mean?"
"It means that it would be easier to show you; I believe one of the creatures that made it this far is around here, anyway where was I? Oh yes, the Outlands now takes up about half the world. I tried using my magic to halt it but since I was severed from the Elements of Harmony, I have been getting weaker. It's a slow process but it is happening and I don't think there is a way to stop it."
"Wh.. what does that mean? What will happen when your power runs out?"Luna asked, a worried look across her face.
"I don't know, I don't think that I would 'die' but I know that when it happens I will not be able to protect Equestria any longer. Given that Chrysalis was able to defeat me... I think I might be weaker than I thought."
"Is that why you asked me to join you? Are you getting me ready to replace you?" Luna asked as a worried tear streaked down her cheek.
Celestia smiled weakly at her sister and wiped the tear away. "I asked you to accompany me so that we could combat these creatures together, I hope that will allow me to reserve as much magic as I can." Celestia looked sadly at her sister "And help you hold onto your magic as well. You should be slowly losing your magic also."
"B.. but, what... what will happen if I lose my magic? What will happen to you? What will happen to Equestria?" Luna was so worried she hadn't even noticed that she and Celestia had landed on a tall stone spire.
"Well there is some good news, the Outlands has not only stopped growing but over the last year or so it has shrunk, not much but just that little bit gives me hope. I believe it is because of Twilight Sparkle and her friends"
"You mean... the Elements of Harmony have been idle for a thousand years? You never reconnected to them?"
"I tried reconnecting with them but until Twilight and her friends managed it, I feared the worst. Anyway we are here."
Luna looked around, she was so focused on what Celestia was saying she hadn't noticed she had landed on a large stone spire. "When did..." Then she noticed the giant spikes, her gaze following them down when she saw a huge pile of bones. The spikes... no they were more like giant scythes or blades, all seemed to originate out of the bone pile. As Luna looked closer she could see familiar looking smaller piles of bones around the giant one.
"Are those pony skeletons?"
Celestia nodded "I wanted to bring them back and inter properly but the guard captain said since it happened so long ago that it would be better to leave them where they had fallen."
"Been so long?"
Celestia sighed "One of the creatures managed to knock me out."
Luna raised her eyebrow and looked at Celestia for a long moment.
Finally Celestia relented and said "It took me almost one hundred years to recover.
Luna stared at her sister. "H... how these creatures do that?" She stammered out.
"One of these creatures managed to stab me with one of those blades" she pointed at one of the huge spikes that was resting against the stone pillar they were on. "The blades are barbed, once they get deep enough in, you cannot pull yourself out quickly. They..."
Luna interrupted her sister "Stop please." She shuddered "We do not wish to hear of that, just inform us... me of how they could render you comatose for a hundred years."
"Oh. Well, the creatures absorb magic though their blades. The one that did it almost managed to drain me completely. Fortunately my guards managed to free me and destroy it." Celestia walked to one of the bone blades resting against the pillar they were on, she poked it with her hoof "The creatures can absorb magic though these blades, either by touching us with them or using them to block magic. You wouldn't think it but the creatures are exceptionally nimble with these blades. They look solid but they can bend and shape the blades as they want. Which means we have to get in close to use our magic against them or they just block it." Celestia looked over the scene in front of her, over the huge pile of bones followed by the smaller piles. "I think this was one that my guards managed to kill while I was still comatose."
Luna looked over the bones, there were so many small piles, looking closer she could see the damage some of them had taken. Even seeing it from this far past the event was horrible. "How many died?"
"This one killed one hundred and seventeen. When I finally recovered enough magic to awaken. I had intended to bring their remains back but my guard commander believed they would want to be left here. He called them eternal guardians. In some ways I am glad to be able to let them rest here, I hesitate to think how much confusion this would cause if I brought them back. I am trying to keep the Midlands and Outlands a secret from the general pony populous. Fortunately everypony who knows of it, understands how dangerous it is and understands that nothing good would come from all my... our little ponies finding out about it."
Luna nodded, if these things could harm her sister as much as she said and the place they inhabited was spreading, then she could imagine the panic if Equestria found out about this place. She glanced at Celestia's guards. They showed a strange combination of pride and mourning in their eyes. She looked back to her sister.
"But did you not say it was getting smaller, because of the Elements of Harmony?"
Celestia smiled "I did and it is, in the last year or so it has retreated, not as quickly as it spread but it is getting pushed back. Things are not as bad as I may have inadvertently implied. I am getting weaker but I believe that my power will last more than long enough to see the Outland become a thing of the past, especially with your help."
Celestia turned her head back and forth as if looking for something. Luna looked around also, not seeing anything till she noticed the golden trail was gone. She was about to ask before Celestia's horn glowed and the golden wave spread out over the landscape again. The golden trail again gave them a path to their destination.
"There are different portals in the Midlands. I have to use a spell to determine which one is open; it is another safe guard against the creatures. I'm sorry I have not explained this better, it has been a very long time since I needed to tell anypony about this place. New guards and advisers are trained and told about it by the old. We still have a ways to go, let's talk while we fly." Celestia spread her wings and took to the air again, followed closely by Luna and their guards.
Luna looked over the rock spires as they flew on, after seeing the skeleton of the creature and the ponies who died fighting it, she was feeling a bit nervous. She decided it would be best to press on with her questions, if only to push her imaginings of the scene she had witnessed from her mind. "So... Why could you not connect again with the Elements?" She asked, trying to take her mind off what she had seen.
Celestia sighed again, Luna was beginning to dread that noise "When I first noticed the Outland and that my magic was weakening, I panicked a bit. Even back then I was sure it had to do with the Elements. I tried many times to reconnect myself to them, even with the help of my most powerful unicorns there was no way. I even tried a spell to go back in time and stop you when you started calling yourself Queen Nightmare Moon."
Luna looked down, not relishing that memory at all.
Celestia noticed her sister's pained look and tried to comfort her. "Err.. it turned out the spell only transported me back about a week and I only had enough time to frighten my past self. Then I spent the next week in a panic, attempting to discover what calamity caused me to go back in time in the first place." She smiled at Luna, hoping that helped at least distract her sister.
Luna gave a bit of a giggle and smiled back. The mental image of her normally unflappable sister scampering around attempting to head off some imagined disaster helped push the guilt from her mind.
Celestia continued. "I had almost given up on the Elements at that point. When I would accompany my guards to the Outlands to combat the creatures I would occasionally bring one of the Elements with me, in the hopes that the creature would react to it in some way. They never reacted to it but the and Element did have a reaction to one of my unicorn guards. I was watching my guards fight one of the creatures, early on they were able to combat the creatures quite effectively. My guard captain was injured by one of the stronger creatures and her friend Aurora created a barrier to protect them from the creature as I finished it off. But I noticed the Element I had brought with me began to glow. It was the stone for the Element of Loyalty and it reacted to the unicorns spell."
"You mean she was an Element of Harmony?" Luna asked "I thought Twilight and her friends were the only ones?"
Celestia looked at her sister "Oh right, I haven't told you about that. Actually there are many ponies who could be one of the Elements of Harmony. I believe the only reason the stone reacted to Aurora's magic was because it had been dormant for so long. Unfortunately I wasn't able to investigate her connection to the Elements for very long, the next creature to appear was very strong." Celestia shuddered "That is the one that... you know, caught me by surprise."
Luna gave her sister a comforting nuzzle as they flew on, the yellow trail leading them forward.
Celestia smiled at her sister and continued. "Thank you. After I recovered, I found that in my absence my unicorns had been studying the link to the Elements. It did indeed seem as if normal ponies could connect with them but instead of one pony being connected to multiple Elements such as we were, a pony could only be connected to one, and not everypony could connect with them. So each Element would be linked to a pony that personified it. I spent another hundred years doing everything I could to try to link ponies with the five Elements but none of it worked. It seemed that for the Elements of Harmony to truly connect with my ponies, they needed to have something else, something to unite the Elements of Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity and Laughter together. A sixth Element was needed.
"You mean the Element of Magic?"
Celestia nodded "I first identified the existence of the sixth Element when I was attempting to get a reaction between an Element of Loyalty and her friend who was an Element of Generosity, they had brought with them another friend with them that day, that was the second time I saw a reaction in the Elements and when I identified the Element of magic. I decided to keep this to myself, which turned out to be a good decision. When I would tell somepony they were the Element of magic, they seemed to become very withdrawn or exceptionally bossy and convinced of their own superiority."
"You mean like that blue mare with the funny hat and cape I witnessed in Canterlot square a few months ago?"
Celestia giggled "I believe her name was Trixie. I never told her she could have been an Element of Harmony, but I did tell Trixie's great great great great grandmare. The Elements I told knew not to tell anypony else about them being an Element, but at least with the Element of Magic the attitude certainly passed from pony to pony. It's amazing how long that sort of behavior can pass down though family lines."
Luna thought carefully for a moment "Does being an Element of Harmony follow family lines?"
"Fortunately no, while it would make it much easier to find. I worry about my ponies looking down on each other for not being from the 'right' family if it did. Some ponies still think themselves better than others but they almost always grow out of it."
Luna frowned and watched the rocks pass by beneath them as she thought about all Celestia had told her. "But why was Twilight the first Element of magic to connect with the other Elements?"
"Most of the Elements naturally seek each other out, Kindness and Generosity go hoof in hoof, Loyalty and Honesty will usually be friends or at least friendly rivals, and Laughter tends to be friends with everypony. The Element of Magic is the odd pony out. Ponies who are the Element of magic seem to usually be very introverted, rarely seeking out friends or even doing much beyond their passions in life. I formed the school for gifted unicorns to not only attempt to discover unicorns who could become the Element of magic but to also attempt to socialize them more, help them make friends with the other Elements and ponies in general."
"But Twilight seems so friendly, she seems to know almost everypony in Ponyville."
"That was hardly always the case" Celestia said with a smile. "She always had very strong magic but unless it had to do with books she didn't care. I practically had to force her out of Canterlot so she could make friends before... The Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville two years ago."
Luna tried to ignore the pain in her chest that always came up when she thought of herself losing control and becoming Nightmare Moon. Another question that she had been wondering about came to mind. "Why did you not confront me when I appeared "?
Celestia paused looking below her watching the stone spires pass noiselessly beneath them as the group flew on. She leaned in close to Luna and whispered so their guards couldn't hear. "I was afraid, afraid how you would react to me when you were not yourself, afraid if you did react... poorly and that I would lose. In fact I was sure I would lose if it came to conflict between us. These thousand years have taken their toll on me. Fortunately I chose my personal student wisely." Celestia gently nuzzled her sister's cheek comfortingly.
Luna returned the nuzzle and tried to suppress the regret of Nightmare Moon, she pressed on. "If Twilight is so special then why have you not aided her more in her trials and tribulations?"
"I do what I can without her knowing. Twilight is probably the closest thing I've had to a friend in an exceptionally long time and I would love nothing more than to be able to openly help her and her friends. But it's a trade off, if I help her too much or too directly then the bonds between them develop slowly and even risk breaking. If I don't help at all then I risk them coming to harm or worse. It's hard watching a pony you love be put in risks like that but it will help save Equestria".
Luna gave her sister a suspicious look. "You love her?"
Celestia giggled "Not like that, you watch a few mates get old before your eyes and you learn to not let yourself go that far with anypony. But I'm afraid I have placed a few challenges that didn't need to be there in her way, you read the report regarding the tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?
Luna nodded. "You purposely gave her only two tickets?"
Celesta gave a sad nod. "I hate to have to put her though things like that but if it helps seal the Outlands then at least there is a good cause for it. Anyway it looks like we are at the end of the trail." Celestia said as she touched down, the golden wisp of magic seemed to vanish into thin air, leaving only a slight golden ripple to show where the next portal was. Celestia turned to her guards as they landed. They were brave ponies but usually Celestia had more guards accompany her to the Outlands, it would be different for them to fight with such small numbers and with the two strange guards Luna brought. Perhaps a bit of a pep talk would be in order, even with both her and Luna this might be rough on them.
Luna walked to the golden ripples in the air, examining the golden path as it disappeared; she lifted her hoof to it.
"Wait don't" Celestia called out but Luna had gotten too close to the portal and was sucked though it. Celestia put her hoof on her forehead. As Luna's guards leapt after their princess and vanished though the portal.
"I wish I had remembered that sooner" Celestia said as she shook her head then she motioned to her guards "Let's go" she said as she stepped though, into the Outlands.
